Dollar Tree accepts coupons, works on training

FROM SAVVY SHOPPER MICHELLE RUBRECHT: I scored the Italian Ice for just 25 cents each and the Soft Pretzels for just 50 cents each. I paid $1.50 for all of these items! What a great deal.

FROM VICKI-LYNN BRUNSKILL: A great trip to Publix: 12 jars of Classico pasta sauce, four All detergent 24-packs, four packs of Baja frozen shrimp, eight boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes, four boxes of Near East couscous, four containers of Emerald almonds. Total before savings = $139.32; BOGO savings: $67.56; Coupon savings: $17.75. Total out of pocket before tax was $54.01. Total saved was $85.31.

Last week, when I heard the Dollar Tree Inc. would soon begin taking coupons, I could hardly believe it.

After all, everything in the store is already only $1. My mind raced as I thought about all of the potential freebies or very inexpensive items that I could pick up if this were true. I contacted the Dollar Tree and confirmed that this was indeed true, as of Aug. 26. This includes all Dollar Trees in every state.

I went to the store a few days prior to the coupon launch date and walked up and down the aisles looking for name-brand items I may have coupons for. I’ve been known to spend hours in the Dollar Tree just browsing — I can’t even imagine how much time I will spend in the store now. I was excited to find that I had coupon matches for the following items:

Super Pretzel Bites, $1

-50 cents off any Super Pretzel product (Red Plum, Aug. 12)

Final price = 50 cents

Luigi’s Italian Ice four-pack for $1

- 75 cent coupon (Red Plum, July 22)

Final price = 25 cents

Big deals, small packages

I was the first one to arrive at the Rincon Dollar Tree, and I had my coupons ready. On this visit I found they had even more name-brand products. Hersheys, Sunny D, Nature’s Own, Twizzlers, Advil, Crest and Colgate are just some of the items that I found. Because I switched my coupon-filing method to the whole-insert method, I didn’t have all of my coupons with me to take advantage of additional deals that I found.

It looks like I am going to have to bring the binder back out again! Dollar Tree taking coupons is a real game changer. You just never know what they may have, and I certainly do not want to miss out on a great deal.

Checking up on the checkout

At the checkout, things went very smoothly. I was the very first person to ever use coupons in the store so I was their guinea pig. The manager and the cashier had their handbooks out, and I was waiting for them to scan the coupons at the register. I was surprised when they had to hit the F7 key before every coupon and manually enter the amount. They were very patient during the process, and the checkout really didn’t take long.

While I was there, I gave them a brief Couponing 101 lesson and explained that a purchase is an item so a customer could use a $1 off one item coupon for every item they were “purchasing” as long as the coupon matched the product and was for the correct size. I pointed out that they will need to watch for size restrictions on the coupons and showed them the Twizzlers coupon I had clearly specified that it was for the 11-ounce bag or larger, but the Twizzlers were available in 10 ounces.

Some of you may want to try to squeak by, but you need to look at the big picture. If Dollar Tree sends coupons for redemption for items that do not match what they have in stock, they will end up not getting reimbursed for them. If everyone did this, they would stop taking coupons. I’m asking everyone to please, please support Dollar Tree and coupon honestly and ethically.

A bumpy beginning

When a store makes any changes to its coupon policy, there are always going to be bumps in the road until everyone learns the policy. That definitely held true for Dollar Tree’s roll-out.

Unfortunately not everyone had the same positive experience at Dollar Tree stores.

Tammy Garland Gay shared her rough shopping experience on the Savannah Savvy Shopper Facebook page. Gay had a half-off coupon and it was clear the cashiers had no idea how they worked.

Reader Sandra Maddox said she was told $1-off coupons weren’t accepted when they are. Shopper Beth Davis was told the Richmond Hill store was not accepting coupons. All stores are accepting coupons.

Word from the top

I contacted the corporate office Monday with concerns and offered my help. The customer service representative who I talked to has been with the Dollar Tree for a very long time, and I regret that I missed jotting down her name. She took my contact info, so hopefully she will give me a call. When she first started out, Dollar Tree was a cash-only operation, and then later became more modern and accepted debit and credit cards. She shared that accepting coupons is a very big step for them and one that they did not take lightly. Each manager was provided with a training manual three weeks before the starting date, and unfortunately some of them waited until the last minute to inform the employees or to do the training. She apologized for the horrible shopping experiences readers were having and assured me they had just had a conference call and that all stores were to retrain their cashiers to prevent these problems in the future.

Apparently their phones had been ringing off the hook all day with similar stories, and not just in our area.

I did inquire if they would be updating the registers so that the cashiers could just scan the coupon instead of manually entering it in, and she said it isn’t in the works right now.

Tammy and Sandra were both correct. They should have been allowed to use their coupons, but unfortunately the cashier didn’t understand how coupons work. There is absolutely nothing in the policy stating that you may not use a $1 coupon. My best guess is the cashier thought she would be “giving the product away” and would get in trouble for stealing. Why? Because she just wasn’t educated on how coupons work; the store will receive the full value of the coupon plus a handling fee.

Know the rules

Knowledge is power and can save you a great deal of money. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the coupon policy. You can find the policy here: http://www.dollartree.com/custserv/custserv.jsp? pageName= TermsConditions. (You will have to scroll down the page to see the policy). Print this policy and take it with you to the store. You may need to help educate the cashier; be patient and be kind.

All in all, I’m sure we will still have a few snags here and there, but please be patient. They are trying, and this is a huge change for Dollar Tree.